Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Repulsing the Eater of the Ass
REPULSING THE EATER OF THE ASS
[From the Papyrus of Rā (see Naville, op. cit., Bd. I. Bl. 54) and from the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 8).]
The Chapter of driving back the Eater of the Ass. Osiris Rā, triumphant, saith:
I. “Get thee back, Hai, thou impure one, thou abomination of Osiris! Thoth hath cut off thy head, and I have performed upon thee all the things which the company of the gods ordered concerning thee in the matter of the work of thy slaughter. Get thee back, thou abomination of Osiris, from the Neshmet boat . . . which advanceth with a fair wind. Ye are holy, O all ye gods, and [ye] have cast down headlong the enemies of Osiris; the gods of Ta-ur shout for joy. Get thee back, O thou Eater of the Ass, thou abomination of the god Haas who dwelleth in the underworld. I know thee, I know thee, I know thee, I know thee. Who art thou? I am . . .”
II. “On thy face [O fiend], and devour me not, for I am pure, and I am with the time which cometh of itself. Thou shalt not come to me, O thou that comest[1] without being invoked, and whose [time of coming] is unknown. I am the lord of thy mouth, get thee back, thou and thy desires(?). Hail, Haas, with his stone [knife] Horus hath cut asunder thy members, and thou art destroyed within thy company, and thy bend (or dwelling-place) is destroyed for thee by the company of thy gods who dwell in the cities of Pe and Tep. He that slayeth [thee] there is in the form of the Eye of Horus, and I have driven thee away as thou wast advancing, and I have vanquished thee by the winds of my mouth. O thou Eater of those who commit sins, who dost plunder and spoil, I have [committed] no sin; therefore, let my palette and the writings with hostile charges [against me upon them] be given unto me. I have done no wrong in the presence of the sovereign princes, therefore shoot not thy [venom] at me. I give, do thou take according to what I order; snatch me not away, and eat me not, for I am the lord of life, the Prince (Life, Health, Strength!) of the horizon.”
- ↑ These words are from the Papyrus of Rā.